Working the polls

I have worked the polls for several years now.  It's a tough job, believe it or not.  First of all, it's a LONG day.  We are there from 6 a.m until around nine ( no later than 9:30 is the decree)  You have to smile and help people and try not to let moody , grumpy frustrated people get to you.  You get an hour meal break.   Sometimes you have to work with difficult people ( NOT what happened for me yesterday, thankfully, but it happens)  I try to keep it light.  Things to remember when voting ( again , in no particular order)

Don't get angry at the poll worker if they can't find your name in the register.  They aare doing the best they can to find your name and help you vote.

Don't yell at poll workers and insist that you have "always voted here"  Again, not their fault if there was a demographic shift  and you are voting at the church ( where you suddenly recall voting at LAST time)

If you are having trouble with the the vote recorder ( that box in the booth) ASK for help.  We had an elderly lady who slid her folded ballot into the recorder and could not figure out where her ballot went.  I took the recorder apart and found it after she left.  I was certain she had put it in her LARGE purse and none of us wanted to insist she empty it to see if she had put it there.  We gave her another ballot and she voted, but the mystery of where her ballot went was solved by the next voter entering the booth who said that there were already vote marks on the recorder.  In trying to clean it, we saw the ballot stuck in the recorder.  I helped an elderly Armenian couple who had not used a recorder before, and a few new voters who were too shy to tell us up front this was their first time.  

Try not to leave anything behind.  We had a voter leave her driver's license in the booth.  One of the crew took it to her after we closed the polls and got everything verified.

Remember, poll workers VOLUNTEER for this. Poll workers make it possible for you to vote in person and in your neighborhood.  Many cities have dispensed with the polling places and have gone ALL vote by mail.  If you enjoy voting in person, remember the tired person at the table is making it possible for you to do so.  I always say "thank you for voting" to our voters.  It's nice to hear "thank you for being here" from our voters.

We had about a 10% turn out, a lot of our voters are "vote by mail", so hopefully more than that 10% contributed to this election.  Congratulations to Eric Garcetti.  I hope he will be the mayor we need, after eight years of that smiling idiot ( I know I shouldn't sugar-coat how I really feel about AnVil, should I?)    Hopefully we will move forward and be the wonderful city we used to be!